The naming system for the Galaxy S series will forever change next year. Samsung will let go of the “Vanilla” and “Plus” models; we’ll be left with Galaxy S26 Edge, S26 Pro, and S26 Ultra phones. We also expect some design changes here. Sadly, the hardware upgrades are minimal. The company wants to reuse the old camera sensors on these phones.
Roland Quandt’s report on Bluesky gave us a new lead. Samsung doesn’t want to update the selfie camera, which is for the better. The 40MP selfie camera debacle, when the Galaxy S22 Ultra was released, is still fresh in our memories. Users were very disappointed with its performance.
Samsung rolled back to a 12MP selfie sensor on the S23 Ultra and all the Ultra phones after. The leaker says all S26 models will bring a 12MP AutoFocus front sensor again. We assume the picture quality will be equal to or better than the older S25 series.
Selfie cameras are hardly what Samsung's new flagship models should focus on. The shots from the current 12MP sensor are detailed enough with natural skin tones and great dynamic range. Plus, the EIS stabilization for the selfie camera has gotten much better over the years.
But, for every fan who thinks the current selfie shooter works great, some people wish Samsung would move on from the stale 12MP camera they’ve been using for 4 years. That’s the same case with the rear sensors. The progress has halted as Samsung continues to use a 10MP 3X telephoto on its non-Ultra phones.
We already know about the design changes and the Galaxy S26 series’ switch to the dual-layer camera Islands, which should cut the bulk. The Edge will get even thinner than last time since the entire motherboard has been shoved inside the camera island.
The Ultra will trim the corners and bring a new Stylus design to complement its rounded look. Fundamental upgrades will be seen across the board. All three phones will get a mix of Exynos 2600 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipsets in global markets.
